Hamas admits to kidnapping Israeli teens

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guru 319

From left, Avi Fraenkel, Ofir Shaer and Ori Yifrah, fathers of the three Israeli teens who were abducted and killed in the occupied West Bank, read their eulogies during their childrens' joint funeral in the Israeli city of Modiin Tuesday, July 1, 2014.

On Wednesday the exiled commander for Hamas's West Bank operations confirmed his organization's responsibility for the June murder of three Israeli teens.

Speaking with a group of clerics in Turkey organized by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Al Jazeera Arabic's popular Doha-based mega-preacher, Turkey-based Saleh Arouri said Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades were responsible for the murders, which set off a cycle of arrests, reprisals, and escalations that continues over two months later.

In a way, Arouri's admission doesn't reveal anything that wasn't already publicly known. In early August, Israeli court documents revealed a man named Hussam Qawasme had been arrested in early July for the kidnappings, and that training and coordination for the kidnappings came from Hamas' military wing in Gaza.

It was significant enough that the kidnapper and his apparent accomplices came from the Qawasme family, which is synonymous with the Hamas establishment in the West Bank. Hamas' West Bank commander in Hebron during the second Intifada in the mid-2000s wasAbdulla al Qawasme, an uncle of one of the alleged kidnappers. Hussein Qawasme was the chief explosives engineer of a major Hamas network in the West Bank; Ayub al-Qawasme, a Hamas official long sought by the Israelis authorities, was arrested this past March.

Even before Wednesday, it was known that a top-level West Bank Hamas network had pulled off the kidnappings with help they had recieved from other branches of the organization.

But this is circumstantial evidence, at least compared to the admission of Hamas' top West Bank military commander, who was sitting next to the Qatari-based Qaradawi at a meeting in Turkey when he made his statement:

Arouri's admission comes just a few days after Israel's Shin Bet revealed Hamas had been planning a violent coup against the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. The plan reportedly involved the stockpiling of weaponry and over $600,000 in funding which was seized by Israeli investigators. The plan was apparently hatched while Arouri was being driven to the Allenby Bridge ? the border between Jordan and the West Bank ? en route to exile aboard after being released from an Israeli prison.

The kidnapping plot appears to buttress or even advance this end goal. It now seems to be part of an attempt to trigger the sort of West Bank-wide chaos that could eventually lead to the internal collapse of the Palestinian Authority, or create a security and political environment where Hamas could seize power by force. The kidnappings were consistent with a strategy that Hamas was apparently pursuing anyway ? and that Arouri was coordinating from Turkey.

Hamas is a badly fractured organization, with cross-cutting sources of power and a leadership spread out over several countries, territories, and time zones. The actions of its Gaza, Qatar, Turkey, and West Bank branches aren't always perfectly coordinated or even related to one another.

But Wednesday's statement on the kidnappings sheds at least some indirect light on Hamas' decision to continue its bombardment of Israeli cities during ceasefire negotiations, and to try to restart a war in which it has lost hundreds of fighters, thousands of rockets, and perhaps its entire cross-border tunnel network.

Hamas has asymmetrical goals, like destabilizing the Palestinian authority, damaging Israel's international reputation, and reducing its opponents' range of strategic options ? regardless of the costs it incurs upon itself.

Israeli police spokes Mickey Rosenfeld also said if kidnapping had been ordered by Hamas leadership, they?d have known about it in advance.

Repeated inconsistencies in Israeli descriptions of the situation have sparked debate over whether Israel wanted to provoke Hamas into a confrontation. Israeli intelligence is also said to have known that the boys were dead shortly after they disappeared, but to have maintained public optimism about their safe return to beef up support from the Jewish diaspora.

Come on guru, don't make it so easy for me :)

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guru 319

guru 319

Hamas was in bit of situation since muslim brotherhood govt of morsi was removed and tunnels into egypt were filled with sewage and water. removing the gaza blockade was critical for hamas pre-eminence in gaza, Winning the PR war against Israel and fatah was bonus.

but you are countering facts with an opinion piece lol. how can anyone argue with that :rolleyes:

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+ctebah 2,660

+ctebah 2,660

Hamas was in bit of situation since muslim brotherhood govt of morsi was removed and tunnels into egypt were filled with sewage and water. removing the gaza blockade was critical hamas pre-eminence in gaza, Winning the PR war against Israel and fatah was bonus.

but you are countering facts with an opinion piece lol. how can anyone argue with that :rolleyes:

it's their well known MO, since the 80's till very recent time, so dear guru, your post is redundant.

BTW

praise to ALLA, today we have good news for the free world and those unemployed:

3 top position has been vacant inside Hamas, if anyone like to kill the innocents, hide like a coward in a tunnel, use women and children as human shields, and dream about 72 (very used) virgins, well, you can apply.

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+ctebah 2,660

it's their well known MO, since the 80's till very recent time, so dear guru, your post is redundant.

BTW

praise to ALLA, today we have good news for the free world and those unemployed:

3 top position has been vacant inside Hamas, if anyone like to kill the innocents, hide like a coward in a tunnel, use women and children as human shields, and dream about 72 (very used) virgins, well, you can apply.

but, just remember this!

if you get the "job" always look around you, and don't look up....

great news!

Alhamdulillah

You should contact macstar, he is looking for recruiters for his Neowin Armchair Army :)

hamas is admitting kidnapping and you want to deny it, floating a conspiracy theory that its all an Israeli plot..... seriously ?

A top Hamas official said members of his militant group kidnapped three Israeli teenagers whose deaths in June provoked a spiral of violence that led to the war in Gaza, the first acknowledgement of the movement's involvement.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, has up till now refused to confirm or deny Israeli accusations that it masterminded the abduction and killing of the three young men, one of them a joint U.S.-Israeli citizen, in Hebron.

"There was much speculation about this operation, some said it was a conspiracy," Saleh al-Arouri told delegates at the International Union of Islamic Scholars in Istanbul on Wednesday, according to a recording of the meeting posted online by organizers.

"The popular will was exercised throughout our occupied land, and culminated in the heroic operation by the Qassam Brigades in imprisoning the three settlers in Hebron," he said, referring to Hamas's armed wing.

Next time click on the link I provide before making a tool out of yourself. Top Israeli police persons have said Hamas did not carry out the kidnapping. It's not too hard to think that Israeli scum would use that as an excuse to inflict further genocide on their own concentration camp.

Let's not turn this into another Israel debate. Too many world leaders and international bodies have condemned Israel to me to care what armchair warriors on Neowin post.

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guru 319

guru 319

Next time click on the link I provide before making a tool out of yourself. Top Israeli police persons have said Hamas did not carry out the kidnapping. It's not too hard to think that Israeli scum would use that as an excuse to inflict further genocide on their own concentration camp.

Let's not turn this into another Israel debate. Too many world leaders and international bodies have condemned Israel to me to care what armchair warriors on Neowin post.

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+ctebah 2,660

"On Friday, Chief Inspector Micky Rosenfeld, foreign press spokesman for the Israel Police, reportedly told BBC journalist Jon Donnisonhe that the men responsible for murders were not acting on orders of Hamas leadership. Instead, he said, they are part of a ?lone cell.? Further, Inspector Rosenfeld told Donnison that if Hamas? leadership had ordered the kidnapping, ?they'd have known about it in advance.?

it's their well known MO, since the 80's till very recent time, so dear guru, your post is redundant.

BTW

praise to ALLA, today we have good news for the free world and those unemployed:

3 top position has been vacant inside Hamas, if anyone like to kill the innocents, hide like a coward in a tunnel, use women and children as human shields, and dream about 72 (very used) virgins, well, you can apply.

but, just remember this!

if you get the "job" always look around you, and don't look up....

great news!

Alhamdulillah

Oh, you mean Israel don't go into a town and kill a Palastinian police man for no reason? They didn't exterminate entire families during their rush to gain land? I guess nobody would do that... no.. they wouldn't... OH WAIT! They did. Your one sided bias is ridiculous, Israel are as bad as Hamas and if you really do believe the propaganda, I feel sorry for you.

This isn't new news. It was discovered in around June that the Qawasameh tribe did the kidnapping, a faction in Hamas, famous for acting against Hamas' policies, and trying to attack Israel to purposely invoke attacks on Palestine even against Hamas' plans or recommendations.

"On 12 June 2014, three Israeli teenagers were abducted in the West Bank: Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrah. Israel blamed Hamas, and the IDF stated that the two men Israel suspects of having kidnapped the teenagers were known members of Hamas. No evidence of Hamas involvement was offered by the Israeli authorities and high-ranking members of Hamas have initially denied the group had any involvement in the incident. The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank attributed the abductions to the Qawasameh clan which is notorious for acting against Hamas's policies and any attempts to reach an entente with Israel."

Nice try.

And guru, it is very sad you're trying to justify the killing of 1,434 civilians, wounding of 8,157 civilians, 35% of the casulties being women or children, displacement of 520,000 people, the bombing of 83 shelters, 26 health facilities, the damaging/destruction of 55,850 homes, the destruction of the only Gazan power plant (the Palestinians who have power get it for 3 hours a day), and the inavailability of water to 1.5 million Gazans (due to the destruction of 2 sewage pumping centers). In addition, a biscuit and ice cream factory was destroyed. Other factories destroyed include a plastics factory, a sponge-making factory, the offices of Gaza's prime fruit distribution network, and a cardboard box factory. Those tunnels to Egypt Israel destroyed were bringing about $700 million to Gaza's economy through trade, however, the tunnels to Israel were for military purposes, and I won't criticize Israel for destroying those.The cost to rebuild all of this is $9 billion, about 7 times Gaza's GNP.

Please note that in Israel, 3 civilians were killed in the war, there were 22 civilian injuries.

At least please use arguments that make sense. That would be appreciated.

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guru 319

"On Friday, Chief Inspector Micky Rosenfeld, foreign press spokesman for the Israel Police, reportedly told BBC journalist Jon Donnisonhe that the men responsible for murders were not acting on orders of Hamas leadership. Instead, he said, they are part of a ?lone cell.? Further, Inspector Rosenfeld told Donnison that if Hamas? leadership had ordered the kidnapping, ?they'd have known about it in advance.?

Thank you for making it so easy for me.

how does it matter to the dead Jewish teens whether they were killed by a "lone cell" of Hamas or "military wing" of Hamas ?

bottomline is Hamas kidnapped and killed the teenagers and baited Israel.

A senior Hamas leader has said the group carried out the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June ? the first time anyone from the Islamic militant group has said it was behind an attack that helped spark the current war in the Gaza Strip.

Saleh Arouri told a conference in Turkey on Wednesday that Hamas?s military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, carried out what he described as a ?heroic operation? with the broader goal of sparking a new Palestinian uprising.

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guru 319

This isn't new news. It was discovered in around June that the Qawasameh tribe did the kidnapping, a faction in Hamas, famous for acting against Hamas' policies, and trying to attack Israel to purposely invoke attacks on Palestine even against Hamas' plans or recommendations.

"On 12 June 2014, three Israeli teenagers were abducted in the West Bank: Naftali Fraenkel, Gilad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrah. Israel blamed Hamas, and the IDF stated that the two men Israel suspects of having kidnapped the teenagers were known members of Hamas. No evidence of Hamas involvement was offered by the Israeli authorities and high-ranking members of Hamas have initially denied the group had any involvement in the incident. The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank attributed the abductions to the Qawasameh clan which is notorious for acting against Hamas's policies and any attempts to reach an entente with Israel."

again. Hamas has admitted that their military wing did the kidnapping and killing of teenagers. I cant believe i'm arguing with people who are rejecting widely reported news and evidence both people and video of hamas admitting to the kidnapping. Its like i'm arguing with religious nuts who reject evolution lol

again. Hamas has admitted that their military wing did the kidnapping and killing of teenagers. I cant believe i'm arguing with people who are rejecting widely reported news and evidence both people and video of hamas admitting to the kidnapping. Its like i'm arguing with religious nuts who reject evolution lol

One exiled person said he was the mastermind behind the kidnapping. Not Hamas, he did not say Hamas was responsible, he said he was responsible. This was not a coordinated kidnapping by Hamas.

High-ranking members of Hamas denied that the group had any involvement or foreknowledge of the incident.

its not as black and white as you make it. They weren't against hamas. The clan in question supplies militants to hamas for godsake. specifically to hebron cells. but i find this argument over minutiae bizzare.

Its like arguing over yazidi persecution at the hands of ISIS. how does it matter to Yazidis being beheaded and their women raped whether the "military wing" of ISIS leadership and Caliph Al Baghdadi knew about the persecution.?

One exiled person said he was the mastermind behind the kidnapping. Not Hamas, he did not say Hamas was responsible, he said he was responsible. This was not a coordinated kidnapping by Hamas.

cherry pick much ?

Arouri is one of Hamas? most senior figures. He founded Hamas? military wing in the West Bank two decades ago and now commands the group?s operations in the area from exile in Turkey. He was deported several years ago in a deal that freed him from Israeli prison.

its not as black and white as you make it. They weren't against hamas. The clan in question supplies militants to hamas for godsake. specifically to hebron cells. but i find this argument over minutiae bizzare.

Its like arguing over yazidi persecution at the hands of ISIS. how does it matter to Yazidis being beheaded and their women raped whether the "military wing" of ISIS leadership and Caliph Al Baghdadi knew about the persecution.?

Maybe because you can't blame a whole group of people just because of a few people who do something, unknown to the entire organization. Sure, I would agree with you if it was a unified effort by Hamas to kidnap those students.

It's like saying the Republicans want to impeach Obama, so that means the whole U.S Government wants to impeach Obama, and it doesn't matter that the Republicans are a part of the U.S Government.

I can be a Republican and shoot kindergarteners in a school, it doesn't mean all Republicans are responsible for that shooting.

See what I'm getting at here, at least?

And source to that they supply Hamas with militants (not the uncited Wikipedia article)?